Why The Mass Effect 3 Ending Sucked

The internet is currently being whipped into a frenzy of hate, counter-hate and counter-counter-hate over the ending of Mass Effect 3. The ending sucks! No it doesn’t! You rushed to the end! We want a better ending! You are not entitled! Noise, noise, noise, noise and more noise.

So first thing’s first. The ending is horrible. Well actually no, that’s the second thing. The first thing is there are MASSIVE SPOILERS (INCLUDING RED DEAD REDEMPTION) in this article, which is obvious but worth mentioning. Now you’ve been warned.

Back to the second thing again. The ending(s) is(/are) horrible. It was mentioned in our Mass Effect 3 review and I thought I had gone mad, as the only other reviews to mention the endings being bad were Giant Bomb and Ars Technica. One review even described the endings as ‘monumental’.

It’s too easy to make a ‘yeah, monumentally shit!’ zinger here, and I’m not going to pretend that wasn’t just a vehicle simply for making that joke and trying to get away with it but look – the endings are bad. And this is why.

No Resolution

The biggest problem the ending has is that there’s no real resolution. It draws the Shepard vs Reapers story to a tidy ending, with Shepard sacrificing himself to stave off the Reaper threat, regardless of what ending you choose. Yet Mass Effect was never about that alone. Its power was found in the compelling universe it created around Shepard and filled with characters you cared about.

The blossoming personality of EDI. The burning vengeance shown by Aria T’loak. The uneasy alliance between the krogan and the salarians. The devastation of the asari homeworld. The scurrying keepers, the bastard batarians, the fragile Council, everything in Mass Effect had its place and it was fascinating finding out how everything slotted together. It’s perhaps one of the few series where I’d happily sit down and digest every word in the Codex, wanting to know why everything was as it was. Why do the volus call me Earth-clan? Why are the elcor so slow and careful with their mannerisms? Everything had its place and its purpose.

You had to make some big decisions on the way to the finale and what made them big is that you cared about the decisions. The decision choosing between the geth and the quarians was handled beautifully. The geth had been your enemy since the series began but slowly, delicately, gently, BioWare peeled back the layers of the relationship between the geth and the quarians until you find out that maybe it was the quarians who were in the wrong. You question your loyalty. These things matter because you care. Picking a side is hard.

(And yes, you could circumvent the whole scenario if your reputation level is high enough, but that’s missing the point.)

The biggest crime the Mass Effect 3 endings commit is that none of them show the repurcussions of your actions beyond the resolution of the Reapers threat. What of the krogan and the salarians? What happens to EDI and Joker? What about Cerberus? Who will become the human councillor after Udina? What becomes of Javik?

It’s easy to be cynical and point towards further expansions, books, apps, comics and whatever else EA and BioWare might have lined up for life after Mass Effect 3 to answer those questions (the post-ending ‘Continue the legend of Shepard with downloadable content!’ screen certainly doesn’t help). But aside from the easy option of cynicism about what the future holds, right here and right now now, the game we’re playing has a half-hearted ending that goes against the entire ethos of Mass Effect.

Here is a universe we’ve made you care about. Now we’re not going to tell you what happens.

That, unfortunately, makes for a poor and unsatisfying ending.

No Influence

Sort of tied in with the above point but it’s worth mentioning – none of the decisions you made really mattered in the long-run. Did you save the Rachni Queen? Did you cure the genophage? Who lived, who died? What decision did you make in the Collector’s base?

None of this matters. The ending rumbles along in the same manner regardless. Again, these decisions matter to you because you believe that they’ll matter to Mass Effect. In the end, those decisions don’t change a thing.

Even collecting the war assets, the entire drive for playing Mass Effect 3, is reduced to number crunching to determine whether you get the option of the third synthesis choice for the ending or not. It was fun collecting dreadnoughts, spec ops teams, research scientists and so on because you presume they matter. They don’t.

A lot of the anger is borne out of the realisation that your decisions have never mattered, and the ending is the first and only time the illusion of choice has fallen apart. It makes sense that you feel cheated out of your investment in the series – emotionally, financially, sexually (hey, we won’t judge!), etc – so the anger is understandable.

And this is before we even consider how Shepard has to play along with Spacechild’s argument that synthetics will eventually destroy organics, despite the fact that you (depending on how you played) have just brokered peace between the geth and the quarians. So they can co-exist. Yet you’re never given the option to argue this point and instead, you have to meekly play along with what Spacechild says.

No Change

The culmination of three games where you make decisions that have vast ramifications on the universe is that endings are all the same. Exactly the same. Sure, the Reapers fly off in one and collapse in the other, and the explosions are blue/orange/green depending on which path you picked, but seriously. Is that it?

Just for the sake of comparison, here are all the possible outcomes and modifiers for the ending in another game about choice, Fallout: New Vegas. That wasn’t connected to Fallout 3, so you have a self-contained, stand alone game which draws upon the decisions you make throughout to craft the relevant ending. That’s one game. The Mass Effect series spans three. And the best they can come up with is changing the colour of the explosions?

It seems bizarre that whatever you picked with regards to the Rachni, the genophage, the council and so on, that’s all it comes down to. The colour of the explosions change. That’s exactly what happens.

So that’s yet another example of why it’s a poor ending.

No Sense

It doesn’t even make sense. Some have claimed plotholes with how the ending relates to the rest of the game but I haven’t even prodded at those too hard, mostly because as a personal thing, plotholes don’t bother me all that much. There are plenty of other logic inconsistencies to keep me going in the meantime though:

When I was running towards the beam leading to the Citadel, I had EDI and James ‘Dudebro’ Vega with me. The Reaper blast hits and Shepard slowly wakes up. You hear the phrase “no-one’s made it” or something to that effect, which would suggest EDI and Vega were killed in the blast. And yet the ending shows EDI getting out of the Normandy on a jungle planet alongside Joker. How did she go from being presumed dead to somehow ending up on the Normandy, which was seen outrunning the Crucible blast before the Normandy crash-landed on a jungle planet/country?

Anderson makes it to the Citadel and he starts talking to Shepard. He’s slightly ahead of her and ends up at the control panel first. But there’s only one path that seems to lead to the control panel, which Anderson would have to take, so Shepard would have clearly seen him making his way up there. So erm… eh?

The Reapers wibble on about how everything is beyond your comprehension, you’ll never understand Shepard, Shepard you’re so dumb you won’t ever get it, and so on. And yet, on the Citadel, everything is explained to you in a few sentences. Reapers wipe out advanced civilizations before synthentic life wipes out organics. Oh. Erm… oh. That was really easy to explain.

And on it goes. Let’s not even get started on the Spacechild thing. Yeesh.

No Excuse

There have been plenty of excuses from the Mass Effect 3 Defence Force to excuse the ending, the majority of whom have – bizarrely – not completed the game. There are those who have and who are happy with the ending but regardless, the ending for Mass Effect 3 still stands as a poor ending when games have offered plenty of brilliant, strong endings throughout the years (Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, Portal 2, Metal Gear Solid 3).

“Just because it’s not a happy ending doesn’t mean the ending is awful!”

It’s hard to say where this argument has sprung up from but it’s simply not true. The quality of an ending is not dictated by how happy or sad it is. Never has been, never will be. Red Dead Redemption has a staggeringly bleak ending. In fact, it arguably has two of them – once for when John Marston dies just as it seems he’s escaped his life of murder and death, the second when his son walks down the path of vengeance and follows in his footsteps. It’s one of the best endings on any game this gen and it’s not exactly an explosion of sunshine, roses and happiness.

The argument with Mass Effect 3 is that because Shepard sacrificed himself, the ending is bleak and some players feel cheated because Shepard died. That might ring true for some players but again, the happiness/sadness of an ending does not dictate its quality and in any case, if your war readiness rating is high enough, there’s a few ambiguous seconds in the ending showing Shepard moving in the rubble.

“Judge it for what it is, not what you want it to be! Stop being entitled gamers!”

Heard this one a few times, which is bizarre because judging the ending for what it is is exactly what most people are doing. And expecting a good ending isn’t the sign of an entitled gamer, otherwise god forbid anyone criticise any game ever again.

“It’s about the journey, not the destination!”

I can semi-relate to this one because Mass Effect 3 is an incredible game until those final moments. It’s wrong to tar the whole game as bad because the last few minutes are so poor but it’s also wrong to think shouting about the journey shields the ending from criticism. Games are a whole. Endings are important because they’re a part of the game (obviously) and when done well, add something extra to the game itself and make you want to play it again (Shadow of the Colossus, Portal). If the ending leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, that has to be pointed out and is a valid criticism, even if the rest of the game is brilliant.

“It’s a good ending!”

While still not a great ending, it would stand as a better ending for someone who had just come into the series with Mass Effect 3. There won’t be the same disappointment as you realise your wealth of previous decisions count for nothing. It doesn’t have to compete with the endings of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (both far, far superior) anymore. It still has the same problems – no resolution to any storyline or conflicts outside of Shepard vs Reapers – but the impact of these flaws are lessened because there isn’t as much emotional investment built up across the span of two or three games.

“But no ending would ever have made you happy!”

This is somewhat ridiculous because it suggests that BioWare isn’t capable of coming up with a satisfactory ending to the series. That’s nonsense. Some have criticised the writing throughout the Mass Effect series but BioWare has shown it’s capable of tugging on the heart-strings when necessary and coming up with emotionally compelling drama when it counts. Mass Effect 3 itself is proof of that, until the ending trundles into view.

One of the reasons the ending was so anticipated is to see how BioWare would end things – how it would deal with the Reaper threat while resolving the storylines you’d been carving out elsewhere. BioWare had shown its skill at crafting Mass Effect, which is what made us anticipate the final ending. To suggest that there is no possible ending to the Mass Effect series that would serve as a good ending is a massive cop-out, otherwise people would have been saying this before anyone played Mass Effect 3 and not start coughing it up as a feeble defence for the ending after the fact.

“It’s better than having a congratulations screen like you got in the Eighties!”

Incredibly, this argument has also come up, people tweeting pictures like this and this. Hey! See! The Mass Effect 3 ending is good compared to what you used to get! Stop complaining guys!

By that comparison though, there’s no such thing as a bad ending anymore, anywhere, ever. Rogue Warrior has a good ending. Kung Fu Rider has a good ending. Medieval Moves has a good ending. Hell, every game has a good ending because look how endings used to be! LOL! Etc.

We could also apply the same argument to every other area of a game. The graphics are better than they used to be! Games are longer than they were! At least you don’t have to wait 10 minutes for a game to load!

“You can’t demand another ending”

Regardless of how many people are or aren’t demanding a new or revised ending, that doesn’t change the quality of the ending the game has. It’s a separate issue and while muddying the argument by lumping in those who aren’t happy with the ending with those who are demanding another is fun and means you can scream about ‘entitled gamers lol!’, again, it doesn’t change the quality of the ending itself. It’s a poor ending. It just is.

But hey, while we’re here and doing the changing-the-ending dance, it’s worth noting this won’t be the first time an ending will have been changed. Bethesda effectively released a new ending for Fallout 3 after that broadly suffered the same problems the Mass Effect 3 ending currently does. Here’s the thing – people can moan about entitled gamers all they want but if our medium allows problems with gameplay to be patched, why not the story? Is that not a valid criticism worthy of change as well? Is our defensive nature of not changing the story a hangover from the days of movies and TV, where the storylines can’t be altered post-release? (George Lucas being the obvious exception.) Should we not take advantage of one of the unique strengths our medium offers?

So The Ending Sucked

BioWare has maintained it had a plan for the trilogy since day one but this ending betrays that. It was bad enough that Illusive Man and the Collectors became the focal point of Mass Effect 2, which was a strange side-step away from the collective force of the Reapers that was bearing down on the galaxy, but if anything the ending of Mass Effect 3 suggests BioWare was making it up as it went along.

It’s not entitlement, it’s not whining and it’s not BIOWARE HATERZ.

It’s just a horrible ending and not one worthy of what might be the best gaming series we’ve seen this gen.

Well written… I beat this sunday evening, and i’ve had many conversations and thoughts about how let down i felt when it was all over. Its not that i didn’t like it, its that i hated it. as soon as TIM was dead it was one slap in the face after another. Complete bullshit. Everything from “space child” to everything he said to Shephard being wierdly ok with it all to the choices you have to the after credits crap was horrible. I couldn’t wait to see the end after how good the first two games, and their dlc’s endings were. Also i’m with what seems to be the majority, CHANGE IT! ITS THAT BAD!

pooya

nice review on ending… really i didn’t played last 2 mass effect but i really really liked this game(me3).. as the writer said this was one of the games i really sat down and i focused on every detail i really liked the game moved on… BUT the ending… man i really wanted to see some heroic or some satisfying outro … but the ending was some cheap casual outdated
and one another thing… the war on the earth should been more… i was just trying to get used to the climate … they had to made more mission on earth… it was hell of a fun fightin in that area…

Personally why couldn’t they have ended it with Shepard and Anderson (if he lived) looking out the massive window as earth is either saved or destroyed. Up until the point with the space elevator which looks suspiciously like the light at the end of the tunnel (seriously I uttered the word ‘god?’ when that scene happend) I was fine with what was going on. Then I’m supposed to choose between three endings which seem to make no sense in context of whats happened up to that point in the story. I don’t get the option to question why I have to pick any of them or what the benefits are (don’t give me the whole ‘space AI told you argument’ because quite frankly if I had to make that decision you’d be damn sure I’d be questioning it about my options). Then to top it all off I find out that my loyal crew of three games decided to run away from the fight and pretty much abandon me and the earth to what they perceived as our doom? 99% of this game was great not denying that but your right man the ending was just terrible. Heck if Shepard had died of blood loss while trying and failing to hit the button on the console and then the reapers won it would have been better. At least it would have been a solid conclusion. Also anyone who says fans who want the ending changed are whiney entitled gamers I have a question for you. The new car you bought which is amazing by the way; the best damn vehicle you’ve ever owned suddenly breaks down one week after you buy it due to a defect during assembly which has happend to about 30,000 other people. Now all of a sudden the company is claiming nothing is wrong with it. Are you being whiney and entitled? NO! you paid good money for that car and you deserve a refund if not a solution free of charge for the problem. Us gamers paid good money for this game and yes we expect a certain amount of professionalism from those who fail to deliver what was promised at the very least Bioware should admit that they screwed up. And no they haven’t yet they’ve just circled around the issue.

Jason

Thank you for taking the time to finish the game and understand the concerns before writing your atricle. The majority of gaming press seemed to skip these, some would say important, steps.

Brian

I agree the ending was awful. I have played all three games and put countless hours and detail into this game and in the end my choices mean nothing. All that work to broker peace bettween the geth and quarins for nothing in the end. It left a real sour taste in my mouth. Also the plot holes are way to big to ignore. Such as if the mass relays are gone how is the huge fleet in earth’s solar system consisting of many of the races in the galaxy supposed to get home!!!!! The quarins whose whole fleet is there would not get to return to their newly retaken homeworld. The Krogans fighting on earth stuck. the list goes on and on. The endings are poorly thought out. Also none of the endings really give any closure to the story of your party members. And all stories essentially end the same regardless my brother beat it using a different option than I did and it ended almost exactly the same. I am all for a new ending. I have no problem forgetting this awful ending like a bad dream.

Chris

I agree,
i am an avid Mass Effect fan played since game one and fell in love, only to have that love come up to me in the end of three and tell me i had three choices (but there all the same really) asked me to forgo all i have fought for/lost/gained/cried/angered/excited about for a ending that wont tie anything together. This franchize had something amazing ‘choice’ and at the end we had nothing to say about it.

Also little upset that when i died i was promised to get drunk with Garrus in ‘heaven’ (which is why i took him along in the end) only to have myself die, and my crew including Garrus leave me behind……..we are not friends anymore Garrus (bioware)

Just finished the game 20 minutes ago and I still feel the stinging sensation of being ripped off. Hours upon hours upon hours invested only to receive a crappy ending! boo!

Calambre

thanks for a great article, even if my poor english makes imposible for me to add some of my experience with the saga, i just need to say how gratefull i’m about people like u, in the oficial media that takes the work to put a voice for the fan’s demands and concerns

What’s strange and perhaps slightly creepy about this is that game “journies” probably didn’t even pay a cent for the game, yet they continue defending Bioware/EA from their positions of authority and gatekeepers of knowledge (wisdom) at IGN, etc. They call fans who bought the game “entitled”, “homophobes”, “whiny protesters”, and so on.

This sound like the Politburu of Soviet Russia by any chance or is this what happens when people elect someone like the Obama regime for 4 years of power?

frontman31

I have barely touched the campaign… just made it to the citadel after the intro and first Mars mission… but after reading this I am not sure I want to play the campaign anymore. I love the co-op, been playing that the most since release, but I had a suspicion before all the reviews and sutff about the ending came out that I knew the ending was going to be crap… which is why I think I haven’t moved on in the campaign. All this just confirmed my suspicions. I mean I have no doubt I will enjoy the game up until then but I am not sure if I want to spend 30-40 enjoyable hours just to be disappointed by the ending and then feeling like those hours were just a waste.

aof

(This text contains spoilers for ME3)
I just finished the game 5 minutes ago.
This trilogy is one of the best games I have ever played. Interesting and fascinating story that arouses curiosity, outstandingly well done differentiated characters (especially in Mass Effect 2) with interesting and well thought dialogues and relationships that develop over time, lots of action, a beautiful map of the Milky Way and it’s systems to travel in your spaceship, tough decisions to make that affect the outcome of the game, beautifully made extraterrestrial worlds, lots of back history that make for a coherent universe, etc.
This third part was shaping up to be the as good as the previous ones. It even has better cover and combat mechanics.
However… that was until I played the ending. I was so indescribably disappointed with the last minutes of the game and the ending, that I really don’t know what to think. I can understand if Shepard dies, or if some of the races are wiped out, even if the ending is bad because you made bad decisions and everyone gets vaporized, or the ending is good because you made good decisions and everyone is happy. But… this? This ending destroyed everything you worked so hard for. Nothing that you did before matters. Not only that, but as others pointed out, it doesn’t make any sense at all. The god/synthetic kid hologram is just ridiculous. So, all this millions of years, thousands of races extinguished were the doings of a damn hologram that doesn’t like “chaos”? Yeah kid, very nice solution, wipe civilizations so… synthetics don’t wipe them? But you are already synthetics and doing the same! That doesn’t make any sense at all. And why is it the same kid that was on earth? Hey kid, I don’t know if you were paying attention, but the Geth and the Quarians are getting along very well. Hell, there is even a human with a synthetic girlfriend. And what’s up with Joker escaping the crucible shock wave? Why did it affect the Normandy? What about all the other ships that were orbiting earth? I didn’t see them being destroyed by the crucible. Why is now everyone aboard the Normandy? Why did they land in a planet no one knows? Why didn’t anyone ask at least “hey, is Shepard ok?” The relays are gone, and everyone is stuck in the place they were at the moment of the crucible activation, which means that everyone fucking dies, fighting each other for resources, starvation, lack of technology, etc. Now that I think of it, when the relays explode, they can wipe out an entire system, so basically a good portion of the galaxy just exploded and everyone died anyway, so what’s the point? I have been a gamer for about 30 years, but this is so bad, that I am now depressed, I kid you not. I am sitting at my computer desk staring at my screen without knowing what to do. I don’t even feel like a replay, because I know everything I did in all 3 games doesn’t matter a damn fuck. All the charm, the fascination, the emotion, the interesting universe that was Mass Effect… gone.
I found that there is even a petition going on in change.org to change the last minutes of the game with a DLC. There, Tom Maltais reason describes very well how a lot of people feel about the ending. I suggest you go there and read it, and while you are there, take some time to sign the petition too.

DO’G

I want this game so freaking badily. I despise bad endings, like how a parent hates a paedo. With all the negative comments, points and what not; im just not sure whether i should buy this game.

So the most important question i can ask you lot is: should i buy this game even though 60-70% of gamers out there hate the ending?? As i said i enjoy watching a good ‘award winning’ like ending but from the what you lot are saying the ending is just as bad as titanic’s, what should i do??

crunchykieran15

How can you hate the ending i agree with the flaws but why is everyone getting so uptight about it i personally liked the ending and every moment of playing mass effect 3 you clearly dont care for mass effect if you dont like the ending the god/kid things reasons arent stupid there perfectly easy to understand and comprehend only buy it if you have a big enough I.Q to take it all in.

Its a game and unless you can do better just enjoy it and say goodbye to and amazing if not the best gaming series this or any gen

crunchykieran15

alos how can people say the choices are the same, THEIR NOT!!!!!!!!!!. wipe out organisms, wipe out synthetics or wipe out everything and create a new DNA how are they the same, i usually agree with you on theese kinds of articles. But to me you couldnt be more wrong. Couldnt have been better it combined everything that made the series great and takes it up to 11 well done bioware, your not gonnna hear that alot if this article is anything to go by.

Ryan King

“alos how can people say the choices are the same, THEIR NOT!!!!!!!!!!”

People are saying the endings are the same, which makes the choices redundant. Look at these endings and tell me how different they are:

i just dont get why everyone hates it, everything leading up to it was epic as was the ending itself. If people dont get it for the ending get for everything else. (SPOILERS: like the mission on tuchanka to cure the genophage was awesome as well as the ending of said mission, or when i picked the geth to help me and tali killed herself its an epic experience and one that shouldnt be missed. no m atter how bad everyone says it is at the end. THEIR WRONG best of 2012 so far

Ryan King

I do say that in my review, Kieran, and I say it again in the article:

“I can semi-relate to this one because Mass Effect 3 is an incredible game until those final moments. It’s wrong to tar the whole game as bad because the last few minutes are so poor but it’s also wrong to think shouting about the journey shields the ending from criticism. Games are a whole. Endings are important because they’re a part of the game (obviously) and when done well, add something extra to the game itself and make you want to play it again (Shadow of the Colossus, Portal). If the ending leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth, that has to be pointed out and is a valid criticism, even if the rest of the game is brilliant.”

It still reviewed incredibly well and even those disappointed by the ending still say it’s a brilliant game. I still think it’s the best game this year by some distance.

crunchykieran15

good point and well said. I just feel annoyed when the people who have commented (who are entitled to their own opinion) are slagging the ending. But good article especially the part on red dead redemption, that is one of my all time faves. P.S great magazine

Ryan King

I can see why but the important thing is that you enjoyed it and you clearly did – what anyone else has to say about the ending won’t change that (including us!)

There is the Indoc Theory ending as well, but that one still sucks fat hairy rhino balls because it means you didn’t even get an ending at all. You fought off indoc and are now laying in some rumble waiting for Harbinger to step on you and finish you because you are too strong to control. This ending blows no matter what..

Damn man, you said everything that need to be said in this article, i usually don’t give so much valor to opinions in the net, in fact normally i agree with some part of the writings and disagree with other parts… but man… you made a 100% reasonable article. Congratulations, and i really mean congratulations to you cos do something with this quality is rare on internet.

Just to add (spoilers below):

They make 2 fucking dreams about the kid, no expalantion about the dreams and don’t give a fucking explanation on the end… dafuq?

As someone above point out… the ENTIRE ARMY OF THE ENTIRE GALAXY… togheter in the same system… all warriors… few resources, no way to galacy travel with the destruction of the mass relays… congratulations Bio/EA, you just give a end of life end no matter what we do, indirect of course, but put 100 lions in the same place and only 1 piece of meat to see what happens… duhhh.

It’s hard to believe some ppl yet want to flame you after what you write, god, u gave a perfect argument, sometimes i think Bio/EA pay some players of make some employers post defensive points in the internet to justify the crap they do. Is that or a very… but very low level of Q.I.

I am a fan of Baldur’s Gate and Planetscape: Torment (would be the best game ever made in the history of the rpg games if not by the bad use of the infinite enginy and bad combat configuration) and i say that bioware could make better than this crap of an end. I usually don’t like EA but Assassin’s Creed history just gave them the right of doubt before i jugde quality of their games… congratulations EA you just lose that with this crap end.

PS: can i point in bioware site the link for this article? someone with influence there really need to read this.

Karl

Regarding Mass Effect 3 being a great game I have to disagree,it is good at times and can be very atmospheric,but it is much shorter and has many flaws and not just the ending,it’s as if an entire different team developed this game or totally changed direction to appeal to fans of shooting games like gears of war rather than Bioware’s hard core and loyal fans of RPG’s,the story is weaker,the graphics are inconsistent one minute they look great then they look washed out and of low resolution,the game also feels more linear and you loose a lot of characters you got to know and love and get new ones who you don’t care about such as Diana Allers(,why couldn’t we have had Emily Wong?) and even hate,

There’s less dialogue options and even auto dialogue,the Codex has been ruined in that you can’t keep track on missions you’ve done,you no longer visit most planets instead you scan and send a probe down and yet somehow you just rescued a load of mercenaries,how lazy is there’s far fewer side missions and most are picked up by eavesdropping on other peoples conversations rather than exploring and getting a tip off from the Alliance.

People go on about the combat mechanics being improved,but I find I roll around when trying to get into cover and end up dying,and get stuck on walls when I try to run,so for me they are worse,not better.There’s loads of glitches in this game and it likes to crash a lot,the Battle of London was very poor indeed as apart from Big Ben and the low resolution phone boxes,it didn’t look like London at all,besides that I wanted to see an intense street to street house to house battle involving humans and all of the other races and eclipse mechs you united and acquired and driving the mako would have been nice again as well,but it was instead a very weak poorly put together effort.

Then there’s the idiotic ending which must be the worst in gaming history,personally all that should have happened is you destroy the reapers,no star child no different colour options that go against all that Shepard stood for and a lengthy cut scene for shepard living and or dying of the galaxy rebuilding and a commemoration service to shepard and all who fought the destroy the reapers with all of his ship mates present and a statue on various planets being built in his honour then going forward in time showing the different outcomes of his team,not a stupid scene of the Normandy crashing on a planet with his squad mates unharmed on or a grand father and his grandson,who ever thought those two up must have had a bad sense of humour or just wanted to wind people up.

I think where they went wrong is probably the fault of EA who in their greed just wanted the game to be more commercialised and to appeal to a broader audience so had to include Kinect and multi-player personally I think getting into bed with EA was a bad move on Bioware’s part and they should have stuck to their guns and kept ME as it was meant to be a single player RPG with a shooting element not a shooter with watered down RPG options,but I suspect their greed got the better of them and they now have a whole new fan base at the expense of loosing their old one,shame on them and I advise anyone who wants to try this out that hasn’t played Mass Effect before to wait a year when it’s dirt cheap,but for the fans of the series just give this game a wide berth unless you want to ruin the other two games.